The Untouchable Kingdom
by Slynthen Advance
Summary: While Ainz and his subordinates were dragged into the world at just the right time to become a major power, helped along by their willingness to do just about anything to achieve their goals; some weren't so lucky. What would a once large guild, with a history of roleplay, do once it entered the New World? Why, they would play their roles. Rated T for language and suggestive themes


Prologue

* * *

A slow clap resounded through the cathedral, putting everyone in the raid party on edge. It was followed by a slow, almost evil laugh, as a single figure moved in the shadows. The figure, based on the outline of its figure, seemed to be a female heteromorphic player. It only took one short moment for the party to recognize them as a player by the name of 'Red Gauge'. They were known to play as some the least popular races, specifically an Arachne, among others, and this encounter seemed no different.

The only reason the Arachne player-base was so small, was because of how difficult it was to balance the natural strengths that the race had with the immense drawbacks it suffered from. An example would be that the player received unparalleled strength, at the cost of needing to charge that strength; therefore, it would take a couple seconds for the player to accomplish the same feats of strength that an orc player could do immediately, even if they could accomplish far greater feats given a few more. For most players it wasn't worth the effort to level an Arachne character because of these major drawbacks.

Red Gauge was originally known as a no-lifer merc player who played as a Nephalem – another infamously annoying player race, as it took over a year to even unlock the race, as you had to max out a demon and an angel character, then you had to do a quest line that took longer than seemed reasonable, then you had to level the character all over again – and help out newer players, getting them ready for and assisting them through some of the more difficult early game dungeons. They were also known to have played as a Gorgon character for a time, and even as a human mage.

Red Gauge was also credited as the first player to discover the hidden breed function of the game in the English servers. The breed function allowed a player to, assuming they had maxed out the appropriate characters, make hybrids of any race. The reason that it was as unpopular a tool as it became, was because it required the player to max out the characters of the races they wanted to use, and they could only use two different races in the program, then they had to max out the resulting character before they could use another race in the formula.

Of course, it was all worth it in the end, as if one of the races you used in the formula had a strength which another had a weakness to, the weakness would be canceled out, while the strength would be diminished. The player before them didn't care about the drawbacks that came with the race, and proved how advantageous it could be to take the time to level such a frustrating race.

Red Gauge was the most famous, or perhaps infamous, depending on an individual's alignment regarding them, Arachne player in the English-speaking servers with their modern playstyle. They had not only maxed out their level several times, but had also been the first player in recorded history to solo a raid dungeon.

And they had done so on a stream, no less, offering the challenge for others to do the same at the end.

They started a guild immediately afterward, using the conquered castle dungeon as the guild's base. Said guild would become known as one of few that could claim they had never been conquered in the seven years the guild had existed. It was incredible what the base had warded off at times, as the most infamous raiding guild in the English servers at the time, Killix, with a total of three thousand members, never even made it to the recovery room just before the Cathedral.

That was the other thing. The guild base, as to make it more fair to invaders, beings as some moderators had flagged it beforehand, had created recovery rooms at the end of each of the different floors of the base, though most of the raid parties that advanced on the base usually took it as an insult, or an attack on their pride, and therefore never used them; despite it being known that those raids that _did_ use the recovery rooms always made more progress.

Which leads to the now small party of players that stand before the guild leader of Drasgonia, the untouchable guild.

"I must admit," Red Gauge began, keeping in character. "To make it this far, you must be very good at what you do."

"Thanks, and you're not exactly bad at making traps if I do say so myself." The party leader, Resident Chameleon, responded, only lightly cringing at their roleplay.

"Why thank you, I aim to impress." They replied, giving the party an exaggerated bow. "But I want to make you and your party an offer." They continued, rising. "I will offer each of your party members any one item from the guild vault – except the guild item, of course – in exchange for you leaving the guild base once you have acquired each item."

Chameleon thought for a long moment, humming every once in a while. If it was Red Gauge that was offering, chances were high that they'd follow through with the offer, but at the same time, his sense of tactics was screaming that he shouldn't, because if they were offering, chances were that they weren't confident about winning. Finally, after three minutes of thinking, he responded. "I'll have to decline. On the off chance that we win this battle, we'll earn the entire base. Though, I do appreciate the offer."

Red Gauge sighed in mild disappointment. "Alright. Let it be known that you and your companions will have the honor of having your player-names etched in the memorial pillar just outside the entrance should you fall in this final battle. You've earned that much, at least."

"Once again, much appreciated."

"Mm." Red Gauge then clapped their hands three times. What resulted was the emergence of eight level one hundred NPCs, and the lights in the previously semi-dark room brightening to the point that there were very few shadows to be seen.

On the far left, a female Gorgon uncoiled herself, as if awaking from a slumber, dressed in heavy plate armor that covered her entire body, aside from the underbelly of her long tail, and her face; it also had much smaller plates that covered the many tiny snakes that hissed from atop her head. From what few of her scales they could see, this Gorgon in particular had mostly grey scales with pale blue scales dotting its back, reminiscent of the Arabian Horned Viper. She had a vicious smirk on her face, with her sharp fangs shown proudly. Residing in her right hand was a large, black spear, and in her left, a grey tower shield sat at the ready. Her name tag read 'Medina Aria'.

On her left was an elderly, male Human mage who stepped through a [GATE], donning a white cloak with golden lining somewhat resembling a Catholic priest. He was tall, at roughly six foot four, and had what seemed to be a kind smile permanently plastered to his face; though it seemed a tad more sinister in the shadow of his hood, given the current circumstances. He had a long, grey beard that reached his stomach, and he held a brown, wooden staff in his left hand. A white hardcover tome hung from a brown leather belt holding his cloak together. His name tag read 'Silva Alfonse'.

To his left was a female Arachne that dropped to the ground, having utilized a [WEB]. She wore a complete set of plate armor that covered her human body completely, and covered the back of her spider body. She appeared to be somewhat short, at five foot six, but more than made up for it with her intimidating presence. Her chitin was black in color, with a faint blue hue, and was white at the joints. Her fangs protruded from just behind her jaw, came forward, in front of the tall visor of her helmet, came up to about where her nose would be, and hung down from there, reaching a couple inches further down than her jaw. In her left hand, she held a silver longsword, and in her right, she held a simple buckler shield. Her name tag read 'Arisa Himmel'.

To her left was a male Angel, who had descended from a ray of light. He was rather short, at about five foot four, with pearl white wings, and a fair complexion. He had an almost melancholic look on his face, with a small smile that seemed almost mocking given the situation. He wore white, leather armor, and had a silver staff with a large, emerald colored gem at the top. His name tag read 'Hemra Garvaldi'.

To his left was a curvaceous, seemingly young Demon, with a Hispanic skin tone, and dark red hair, who had stepped casually out of the shadows. She wore a black duster, slacks, and dress shirt, a white vest and tie, black sunglasses, and a black bowler cap. She had a smug smirk on her face, and she had a large broadsword which rested atop her left shoulder. Her name was 'Silda Cairo'.

Between and slightly in front of the mage and the gorgon was a male Human-Gorgon hybrid who looked to be in his early thirties, who had simply walked up from behind one of the pillars. His facial hair included light stubble on his chin, and a thick handlebar mustache. He had the same scales as the pure blood Gorgon on the slithering mass upon his head, though he didn't have her tail, but the legs any human would. He wore black robes with red highlights, and had a black, steel staff with a sapphire orb at the end resting in his right hand. In his left hand, he held a black feather quill. His name was 'Alexandro Aria'.

To his left was a buff, Hispanic, male Nephalem, wearing a black suit and tie, with black sunglasses and pants. He had an old-looking brown leather-back book, with a red book marker in his right hand, and a twisted wooden wand in his left. He had a blank look forever etched on his face, reminiscent of a stereotypical FBI agent. He also had one black wing, and one white wing folded tightly against his back. His name was 'Fredrick Cairo'.

To his left was a female Human-Gorgon-Arachne hybrid, looking to be just out of her twenties, that had followed the pureblood Arachne's example, and repelled in from the ceiling. She was wearing heavy, black, plate armor, with white highlights, that covered her from head to… whatever qualified as a toe on an arachnid's body. She wore a similar helmet to what the Gorgon wore, and had a similar armor set to what the Arachne did. She also had a vibrant red lance held in her right hand, and a war bow strapped to her back, along with a quiver of arrows. Her name was 'Saran Himmel'.

The party of four looked on in contained frustration, given they had just fought through god knew how many NPCs to get this far, even if they were just fodder, and now they had to fight past eight maxed out NPCs in order to get to the shadowed figure. It was frankly rather unfair; which Chameleon figured was why the recovery rooms existed. To allow the surviving players to recover, and prepare for the next battle. It was rather polite, he had to admit, to allow the people actively trying to kill you to recover in a dedicated room.

Then again, it was an_ immensely_ large, and well defended guild base. The outer walls themselves were lined with archers, the courtyard was filled with low-level golems and a groundskeeper – a single level seventy-five NPC. Then they had to deal with the first room of twelve on floor one of six within the fortress castle, luckily, after each floor's last battle room, there was a recovery room waiting. Only to find out that they had to take a winding staircase down to the dungeon in order to find a key to the gates of the Graveyard Cathedral, and the graveyard was filled with both monsters and traps. Once that obstacle had been passed, they were granted access to the final recovery room, after which they would enter the Cathedral itself.

The reason the fight through the castle fortress was unfair was because _every single room_ was _filled_ with fodder enemies, and the farther through the base you got, the higher the level of the fodder became. After you dealt with all the fodder in any given room, you had to deal with a 'room boss', as they had become known as by raiders, and you couldn't advance until you had put down all the enemies in the room. Finally, at the end of each floor, you had to fight a 'floor boss', which you had to defeat in order to advance.

At the end of the top floor of the castle fortress, however, there was an entire room dedicated to another boss; the 'Estate Manager Veronica Shwiener', the first level one-hundred NPC raiders are forced to fight. After you beat that boss, and made your way to the dungeon, you had to fight through a horde of level thirty NPCs designated as prisoners. Then you were allowed to recover while you prepared for a fight against the prison guards 'Lunus' and 'Helios', two more level one-hundred NPCs. As if that wasn't enough, the graveyard was filled with tens of dozens of mid-tier liches, all of which could summon a small army of undead, leading to a situation where the only logical and worth-while tactic was to let the army of undead attack you, while you kept your defense stable, only countering with AOE attacks.

Of course, all of that was assuming you managed to pass through the front gate of the castle fortress, which meant you first had to navigate your way through the city, which was simply, yet accurately, known as the shifting streets of Labyrinth. The raiders had to either break the door down with high-level attacks on par with or better than a tier eight spell, or find the gate key in the caves that surrounded the city; which were infested by undead, giant spiders, and Arachne. Of course, there were also the farmlands further out, but that was all purely aesthetic choice far as anyone who had attempted the raid could tell.

In the end, it took a guild of five-hundred fifty-three veteran players to get four to the end. A testament to just how insane the raid was to attempt.

Refocusing, the party of players was entirely made up of human players, all decked out in legendary equipment. The party consisted of a mage, a healer, a tank, and a sniper at present; their last heavy hitters had been mauled during the assault on the graveyard. They had been given an unwelcome surprise when half the liches revealed they could summon their minions twice in one day.

They now had to consider the fact that they were all level 95, as opposed to the recommended level 100 to even attempt the raid they now had to contend with alone.

The battle didn't last long, and Red Gauge would've lorded it over the guild for months.

_Would've. _The game was shutting down tonight, so Gauge settled for a bit of a backhanded compliment in a [Message]. [GG, you lot actually fought inside the Cathedral, be proud to know you made it farther than anyone else.] With that interaction out of the way, Red Gauge did what they promised, and punched the names of the four players into the text box of the memorial pillar just outside the graveyard, moving the previous party's names onto some of the graves within the graveyard itself. It was supposedly a sign of respect; the guild had carefully written down the usernames of every player who had ever fought within the castle fortress on the tombstones.

Red Gauge turned around, merely admiring the Guild Base that had, quite literally, several years' worth of blood, sweat, tears, and cash put into it. As both the guild's leader and founder, Red Gauge doubted he could be any prouder of what had been built. It was an accomplishment in and of itself to have forced moderators to take note of a guild base, but to have one flagged meant that the base was too difficult to pass, or someone had made it impossible to enter, therefore defeating the purpose of the PvP aspect of the game. Since the latter wasn't true for Drasgonia, it meant that they had created a base that, without its recovery rooms, would be either impossible to pass, or so unfair, that it might as well have been.

The exterior of the fortress castle made it look something like a brick and cobble mansion from ancient times, colored black with a slight red hue. It was an imposing construct, even for a game as old, and well known as YGGDRASIL. The four Cardinal Towers were immense constructs, made from some of the strongest stone in the game, with a façade of obsidian purely for aesthetics. As the name implied, they were roughly aligned to the map's Cardinal Directions, making navigation fairly simple if you knew what you were doing.

Red Gauge looked on in mild amusement as the NPCs stiffly followed their set animations and response cycles. He found himself musing on the Irony of being both the sole founder and final member of one of the greatest guilds to have ever graced YGGDRASIL. As he did, he found himself deeply missing the other members of Drasgonia, wondering when he'd finally meet up with his guild mates.

For Drasgonia was not your typical guild; it was, first and foremost, a guild for the heavily disabled and their families.

It was a guild for those with an expiration stamp.

It was a guild for anyone who used YGGDRASIL as an escape from a life of sickeningly clean rooms, and sterile environments.

As he spent the next few hours walking around Labyrinth and the castle fortress, he watched the NPCs cycle through their animations, he couldn't help but let his mind wander; the end goal of the guild, for him at least, was to design and flesh out a kingdom within the strict boundaries of YGGDRASIL's engine. He had managed to set up a governmental system, somewhat akin to a confederation, with the help of some online friends and several hundred thousand test simulations via a fancy new World Sim, and even written down the constitution in the government hall's Archives, as well as the many, many drafts in the Manor's own Archives. It was all just fondly written lore, naturally, but that didn't stop the guild from going through with actually following its laws whenever they were in character, or giving feedback regarding how to make it better, or even holding events on holidays, be they entirely made up or genuinely practiced holidays of Earth.

Naturally, all the holidays had lore based around them to excuse their existence, but they were mostly the same as the genuine articles when they were reality based.

But the Drasgonian Kingdom, the Drasgonian Duchy, really, was the singular most famous semi-fictional Nation to ever exist; mostly because it was the only semi-fictional Nation to ever exist. And the novel series that was based on it, thanks in no small part to a cult following of the Guild's many online discussion boards and several moderately-well-known authors, became a New York Times' Best Seller, propelling its fame into even the most main stream of media personalities' interest. Even if in YGGDRASIL Drasgonia would only ever be the so called 'Black Fortress', it would remain a monument of what could be done with a little time, a tad extra cash, and a willingness to do whatever you wanted.

Drasgonia had become everything he ever wanted and then some.

Even if he still wanted to create just a few more NPCs, just so he was sure the population could, in theory, be enough for self-sustainment.

As the countdown until server wide shutdown passed the three-hour mark, he decided he'd initiate the world's end protocol, and finish the epilogue chapter of the final book, before sending it over to the guild's publisher. He watched in mild fascination as every bell tower in the entire 'Kingdom' rang in a melodious tune, one of his favorites; Rays of Light, a song from a nigh ancient game, NieR: Automata. He had decided it would be fitting with the theme he was going for, but he had restrained himself from listening to the toll before now, just so he could get the first experience as it was happening, and more accurately portray the emotions it instilled in the book.

As it turned out, he couldn't have been happier with the results, as the melancholic yet cheerful tune rang through the shifting streets, and all the NPCs stopped what they were doing, and began filtering through the streets, heading to the Underground Pantheon.

The Underground Pantheon was most definitely the guild's magnum opus; an enormous structure reminiscent of Greco-Roman temples, with an interior design more akin to a Catholic or perhaps Egyptian style, large enough to put a megachurch to shame. Its sheer size made it, by a large margin, the largest structure the guild had ever constructed, its grounds spanning the entire underground region of the guild, and the building itself taking up a third of that space; just so that it could house everything they wanted to have in it. That being; the entire treasury in a secure Vault, what would be the Nobility's quarters and the needed servant's quarters, an enormous garden dedicated flower arrangements showing off the seals of the most successful raids, – being the top five guilds, top five parties, and top five players – Statues of every player to have been part of the Guild, their seals elegantly stitched into both a pair of small banners that hung from the bases of said statues as well as much larger versions hanging from the Core Chamber's balcony, both statues and paintings of the most important events in the guild's history, and finally memorial sites for every guild member that had passed away.

The Core Chamber itself took up a rather significant portion of the available space. Nicknamed the 'Pharaoh's Sanctuary', the Core Chamber was the location of the memorials, set in a ring like fashion, circling the central plaza, with carefully crafted floral arrangements unique to each member. It was easily _the_ most sacred and hallowed ground in the entire guild, as it carried with it both the in-game username and playtime as well as the IRL memorial statements of every passed member of the guild, carved into the base of each statue. The memorials themselves were a pair of statues; one of their game avatar, and one of their IRL person – disability displayed through a carefully carved 'crack' in the appropriate place when it wasn't obvious – each twice life size, set upon a single, large base.

A total of three hundred fifty-eight players 'rested' in the sanctuary, all with their own, equally grand memorials; whether they were with the guild for but a week; like Western Dancer/Veronica Love, or since the beginning, like the most recent memorial; Reagent Samurai/Jacob Willow.

Naturally, the Pantheon wasn't built in just any cave, but in a massive cavern with an artificial day-night cycle and sky, inspired by a failed raid on Ainz-Ooal-Gown's base early on in the guild's history – chronicled by one of the many paintings in the Pantheon.

The last, and arguably greatest, of the monuments in the Underground Pantheon was the Green Diner; a massive dining hall with an arched glass ceiling, and a tiered floor plan. At the highest tier was the seating for the founding members, nine in total. Below that was the seating for every other guild member, numbering some three hundred fifty. Below that was the seating for every combat NPC above level seventy; in total nine hundred twelve. Finally, below that was every other NPC, be they combat oriented or simply up keepers and maids/butlers; some five thousand six hundred thirty-seven in total.

And today, the Green Diner was packed; though the upper tiers were heart achingly empty. There was a lot that could make Red Gauge cry, admittedly, but not much that could make him openly bawl. The mere sight of the empty tiers made him want to bawl though, and he would have, had he not known that it would destabilize his condition; and thus, he took a long moment to reorient himself. He still had one more thing he wanted to do before he keeled over.

With more confidence than he felt was strictly necessary, he walked up to the throne-like chair at the head of the smallest of all the tables, and took a seat, the chair automatically conforming to best suit his physiology. Once he was sat, and every NPC in the 'Kingdom' was present, the tolls of the bells came to a gradual end, fading off like a fond memory.

And thus, he got into character and began his speech, making sure his Dictation software was running. "Loyal subjects, honored guards, and all those in between… I come before you today, not as your monarch, but as a fellow. We all have suffered at the hands of brutal invaders, and daunting invasions. We all have lost something along the way, however; be they treasured possessions… or dear friends." Gauge glanced about the empty tables with a tiny, solemn smile. She stood abruptly, waving her arms out in a dramatic fashion, as if to embrace every individual in the room simultaneously. "But we all have persevered, and through trying times, we have succeeded in conquering even the greatest of enemies, and turned bitter rivalries into the strongest of bonds!" Shortly, though, her arms gently returned to her side, and she to her seat. "However, I'm afraid that this may be the last of our time together." She dropped her head in solemnity, though she raised it again with a grand smile once more on her face. "Let this not be a time of mourning, however, we've enough time for that later. Let us feast! Be merry, for it is in our joy that those who've passed find peace! Let us be jubilant, and celebrate all the time we've had together!"

With that, she signaled the band at the door's end of the hall to begin playing, and watched as the staff brought out the greatest feast in the guild's history; in both quality and quantity.

Red Gauge silently laughed to himself at hamming it up as much as he had, smiling a great big smile. He turned off his dictation software, and saved the document, sending off the finished book to the guild's publisher, and attaching a note that gave them permission to publish the complete data-book of the 'Behind The Lines', giving the fully detailed story of the actual happenings, along with a 3D model of the entire Guild, and a complete technical manual of how they got around and utilized certain game mechanics to build the base and the Underground Pantheon.

With everything out of the way, he let go. Still smiling a big, stupid grin, he felt warm tears run down his real face… and the pain of a heart attack as the clock struck zero.

He idly wondered if he was the one screaming as consciousness left him.


End file.
